Laptop Purchase Advice

[CosmopolitanIce]

Hey guys, not sure if I'm posting in the right place but I need some laptop help! 

I'm desperate for a new laptop and it needs to be able to run Sims 4 smoothly, preferably with expansions included. 

It's all giving me a headache looking at reviews and specifications, so if people could point me in the right direction that would be great! 

I've found ao.com to have the best prices and selection so far but there's so many different brands that I have no idea which one to go with.... 

Thanks in advance! 

[puzzlezaddict · Accepted solution]

@CosmopolitanIce  I found quite a few options that would work for you.  Some of them don't have financing (as far as I could see), but I'm not sure whether you'd need it on a less expensive computer.

All of these options have the same processor: an Intel i7-8750H.  There's a significant gap in performance between this one and the next one down (an i5-8300H), and a big gap in price to the next one up (an i7-8850H).  Laptops don't offer a whole lot of choice, but the i7-8750H will handle TS4 and multitasking quite well.

This is the cheapest high quality laptop I found, at £900.  It has an Nvidia 1050 ti, which will easily run all TS4 packs on the highest settings.  It also has the advantage of both a 256 GB SSD and a 1 TB SSHD, which will be much faster than a mechanical hard drive.  And it has 16 GB RAM at 2666MHz.

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/asus-tuf-fx504ge-nvidia-gtx-1050-ti-16gb-15.6-fhd-i7-8750h-gaming-lap...

If you like adding a lot of demanding custom content (like high poly count hairs), and/or you want to future-proof your laptop, you may want an Nvidia 1060 6 GB.  The 1050 ti is more than fine for now, and it seems extremely unlikely that any official TS4 content would ever be beyond its capabilities (even on high settings), but it's your call.

This is the cheapest model with a 1060.  It only has 8 GB RAM, so it might be difficult to multitask while playing.  It also has a small 256 GB SSD, which would make Windows start up quickly, but might run out of space quickly.  It would probably be better to install TS4 on the larger HDD and redirect Documents there as well.

https://ao.com/product/fx504gmen150t-asus-laptop-black-59693-251.aspx

For a bit more, you could get essentially the same laptop as above, but with 16 GB RAM.  (This is the same model on both sites, for comparison's sake.)  The screen is also larger, if that makes a difference to you.

https://ao.com/product/fx705gmev101t-asus-laptop-grey-62515-251.aspx

https://www.amazon.co.uk/ASUS-FX705GM-EW019T-Bezel-Gaming-Laptop/dp/B07HH5XR8K?th=1

You could pay a bit more money and get some more impressive features, like an Nvidia 1070 or a large SSD, but those aren't necessary.  There's nothing you'll ever want to do in TS4, even with cc, that a 1060 wouldn't be able to handle.  And TS4 doesn't benefit from being run off an SSD, unlike other games.

If you have any other questions, feel free to ask.

[jjrose310]

I’m no help, but I was wanting to ask the same question. So I’m following.lol

[puzzlezaddict]

@CosmopolitanIce and @jjrose310  I'd be happy to help both of you pick out laptops that will run TS4, or give more general advice if that's what you're looking for.  I just need to know your budget, country, and anything else you'd like the computer to be able to do.  (@jjrose310 Are you looking for a laptop too, or a desktop, or does it not matter?)

[CosmopolitanIce]

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@puzzlezaddict wrote:

@CosmopolitanIceand @jjrose310  I'd be happy to help both of you pick out laptops that will run TS4, or give more general advice if that's what you're looking for.  I just need to know your budget, country, and anything else you'd like the computer to be able to do.  (@jjrose310 Are you looking for a laptop too, or a desktop, or does it not matter?)

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Thankyou I'm in the UK so ideally AO or such to order from, at the moment I've been looking at finance options to ensure I get a decent one but nothing outrageously priced please! I know gaming laptops are pricey in general though so ideally under £1500? Bonus if it's under £1000 too, but I've noticed the majority are around £1200.... 

I need to be able to use the general programs such as word, excel for work too.

Do the recommended requirements for TS4 also apply to all the expansions, or do they differ depending on the pack installed? 

[jjrose310]

A laptop.

i currently have an older dell inspiron 8gb ram, integrated 128mb graphics card... not sure what else but it meets minimum requirements, but I’d like something that can run all expansions at full/high graphics settings and not have too hard of a time.

i haven’t run the game full settings outside of build mode yet, so maybe it can handle it, but I’m wondering if a better graphics card would make a huge difference during play.

[jjrose310]

Also, I’d prefer it to be under $1000 considering I have a function laptop currently... lol

[puzzlezaddict]

@CosmopolitanIce  The minimum requirements are higher for Cats and Dogs, Seasons, and Get Famous than for the base game and other packs.  But the recommendations are really the same, especially considering that most people would like to add more EPs in the future, and those EPs are likely to be demanding as well.  Besides, with your budget, you're not really looking for a weaker machine that can barely handle the base game and a couple of SPs.

I'll have a look around and post back soon.

[puzzlezaddict]

@jjrose310  Are you in the U.S.?  (A few different countries use dollars as their official currency.)  And is there anything else you want to use the laptop for?  Other than demanding games, the amount of storage is has may or may not be a consideration.

And I can certainly find you an option that would run the game better than your current laptop.  Your budget is enough too, again provided you're in the U.S.  (I don't know as much about other countries.)

P.S.  I might split your comments into another thread, since it sounds like you're going to need a completely different set of options than CosmopolitanIce in the U.K.

[CosmopolitanIce]

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@puzzlezaddict wrote:

@CosmopolitanIce  The minimum requirements are higher for Cats and Dogs, Seasons, and Get Famous than for the base game and other packs.  But the recommendations are really the same, especially considering that most people would like to add more EPs in the future, and those EPs are likely to be demanding as well.  Besides, with your budget, you're not really looking for a weaker machine that can barely handle the base game and a couple of SPs.

I'll have a look around and post back soon.

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Thankyou, I thought a dedicated gaming laptop would be the best option so that's what I started looking at options for and it just got way too confusing!

[jjrose310]

Yes the US! Thanks!

I mostly use it for photo editing (photoshop and Lightroom), and photo storage. So hard drive space is important, but I also have and use external hard drives already so I don’t mind migrating photo storage regularly if need be.